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Southern Opportunity Atlas: Advancing Opportunity and Access Across the South
Across the South, many schools are still governed by active federal desegregation orders. In fact, 128 school districts remain under federal desegregation orders, with 128 of them located in the South. The public perception that desegregation was “solved” decades ago masks a more complex truth: segregation is a present-day reality.
The Southern Center for Opportunity and Access’ (SCOA) latest tool is the Southern Opportunity Atlas. This powerful new hub serves as a valuable resource for educators, policymakers, and advocates working to expand opportunities and achieve compliance with desegregation mandates.
This resource was designed to support school systems working toward unitary status, offering clear guidance on the five core desegregation indicators used by federal courts to assess a district’s compliance with desegregation mandates and evaluate progress in the areas of Student Assignment, Faculty and Staff, Facilities, Transportation, and Extracurricular Activities.
The website includes information for Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Through the site, users can:
- Dive deep into state-specific desegregation data
- Explore how court oversight and compliance vary across the region
- Access resources to guide inclusive practices and meet legal requirements
- Learn from districts that have made tangible progress toward integration
Each state profile provides historical timelines and legal summaries, visualized data on student demographics and court oversight, downloadable tools for school and district leaders, and featured success stories from districts making measurable progress.
The Southern Center for Opportunity and Access (SCOA) is operated by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), and this resource reflects the SEF’s mission to expand access and opportunity in education across the South, helping districts meet federal civil rights requirements and strengthen the systems that support student success.